Ernie Jones (politician)
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Ernie Jones | |
|---|---|
| Nepean Township Councillor | |
| In office January 1, 1948 – December 31, 1949 | |
| Ottawa Alderman | |
| In office January 1, 1950 – December 31, 1952 | |
| Preceded by | Ward annexed by Ottawa |
| Succeeded by | Lon Campbell |
| Constituency | Westboro Ward |
| Ottawa Controller | |
| In office January 1, 1955 – December 31, 1960 | |
| Preceded by | John Powers |
| Succeeded by | Lloyd Francis, Don Reid |
| In office January 1, 1963 – December 31, 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Tardif, Wilbert Hamilton |
| Succeeded by | Marion Dewar, Don Reid, Bill Law |
| Deputy Mayor of Ottawa | |
| In office September 5, 1972[1] – December 31, 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Claude Bennett |
| Succeeded by | Lorry Greenberg |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 6, 1910 |
| Died | May 15, 2005 (aged 94)[3] |
| Spouse | Ruth Irene Munro[3][2] (m. 1934;[4] died 1991)[5] |
| Children | 1[3] |
Ernest William Jones[6] (October 6, 1910 – May 15, 2005) was a Canadian politician. He was an alderman on Ottawa City Council from 1950 to 1952, and was a member of the Ottawa Board of Control from 1955 to 1960 and from 1963 to 1974. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Ottawa in 1960, and was Deputy Mayor of the city in 1972.
Known for living his life "fast and aggressive",[7] he was a believer in "grass-roots contact with the electorate", his electoral base was the small businessman and the suburban homeowner, whose main concern he stated was "careful spending of their tax buck ... When taxes go up, they want to know exactly why".[8] He presided over the city's recreation and parks department during its infancy, and helped obtain an agreement with the Ottawa Board of Education for sharing playgrounds and other recreational facilities.[9]
Jones was born on October 6, 1910, at his family home on Churchill Avenue to William Donald Jones, a Canadian bicycle rider champion[2] and son of a Welsh immigrant,[4] and Elizabeth Harriet Sullivan,[2] a descendant of a pioneering family who operated a farm in the City View area. He attended Westboro and Broadview Avenue public schools, Nepean High School, the High School of Commerce, Willis Business College and Carleton College. In his youth he worked as a cake baker at Standard Bread, as an office boy and a clerk in the Department of Veterans Affairs. He then went to work in the Finance and Treasury Department, later becoming an administration officer.[4]
Early political career
Jones was elected to Nepean Township Council in the 1947 municipal elections, the only newcomer elected to council that year. He finished third in the three-seat at-large council race with 2,063 votes.[10] While a member of the Nepean council, Jones supported the annexation of the entirety of the Township into Ottawa, but preferred ratepayers have a say on the matter.[11] Jones was re-elected in the 1948 municipal election, this time winning 3,558 votes and finishing second.[12]
With the urban northern part of Nepean Township set to be annexed by Ottawa in 1950, Jones ran to represent part of newly annexed territory (Westboro Ward) on Ottawa City Council in a special election held on December 19, 1949. Jones won one of two seats in the ward, finishing second behind former Nepean Reeve Harry Parslow with 1,189 votes.[13] Jones declared that his first action as an alderman would be extending water mains and sewers into the newly annexed territory.[14] Both Jones and Parslow ran unopposed in the 1950 Ottawa municipal election.[15]
Outside of politics, Jones became a Life Underwriter with London Life Insurance in 1951, a position he held throughout his political career.[4]
Board of Control, 1952–1960
Jones decided to run for a spot on Ottawa's Board of Control for the 1952 Ottawa municipal election, running on "a more efficient administration in the city".[16] In the election, Jones finished sixth for the four-seat board, with 22,188 votes, and was not elected.[17] Jones ran again for a spot on the Board in the 1954 Ottawa municipal election, and this time was successful, finishing fourth with 28,385 votes.[18] During the campaign, he promised "a fair deal in civic affairs to one and all".[19]
Jones was re-elected to the Board of Control in the 1956 Ottawa municipal election, finishing in second place and winning 26,480 votes.[20] He ran for re-election in the 1956 Ottawa municipal election. At the time, he was the Controller of Finance.[21] Jones was re-elected again, finishing second with 30,473 votes.[22]
1960 run for mayor
On March 15, 1960, Jones announced at the closing ceremony of the City of Ottawa Bonspiel at the Ottawa Curling Club that he was intending to run for mayor of the city in the 1960 Ottawa municipal election.[23] Jones ran on a platform of "full and ultimate development" of the city, where it would be "recognized as a full co-partner with the federal government in the planning of the National Canada", and "above all ... wants to see that development effect with the least possible cost to the taxpayers as a whole". He also wanted the city to diversify away from being just a city of civil servants into a "diversified industrial city (where) its people will have many avenues of employment".[4] He also wanted to find new sources of tax revenue, suggesting that crown corporations such as the CBC, the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the National Research Council "should ... be paying a business tax as does any small businessman and factory owner in Ottawa".[24] In the election, Jones finished a distant third winning just 9,317 votes, over 26,000 votes behind the winner, Charlotte Whitton.[25]